From what I know of the book, Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel, the main character Abby wakes up next to a burning building and remembers nothing of what happened to her. Her clothes are full of soot and ashes. There is only one person that is alive, named Sam. She doesn't know Sam at all but being that he is the only other human she has to trust him. Sam takes her to live with him in this cave that he has turned into his home. Abby begins to have flash backs and spurts of memories here and there. With these memories she soon starts to remember what happened. Things soon change after she begins to remember.I expect the authors critique to be about something how we as humans caused so much harm to the world that we were its demise. We know that there's something wrong because there are only two people left in the world. So something catastrophic could have happened. And perhaps this catastrophe was our fault.
This article basically talks about the fate of the coastal cities of America. This relates to the book because it talks a bit about some of the natural disasters that have occurred. Mostly the most recent one Hurricane Sandy and a past one, Hurricane Katrina. This article really shows how something like natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can happen to all. Potentially, we can, at anytime, be affected terribly by these catastrophes. Natural disasters happen and affect not only the region they hit but the world as a whole. They have a great force about them, so multiple ones at once are able to cause something so great that it could be the end of our world. Not only hurricanes but other natural disasters such as volcanoes exploding or things as such. Things that could have possibly happened in the book, Circle 9. A disaster so sever that it could end the human population.
" I wake up and there is a boulder in my skull and a hand on my cheek. I startle and struggle to lift myself from the ground, and when I do bolts of pain stab my eyes and brain. I lie back down. I let the hand caress my cheek, because its the only good thing I feel right now, and I want to hang on to it." (Heltzel 7)
The passage is the very first opening passage of the story. I chose it, just because it was a very interesting way to start a book. When I read it I was sort of like brought back by its forwardness. It did not hold back and start a story in a generic way. It had a really interesting and captivating opening. I for one, was like, " Woah, how did the boulder land on her?". The beginning really made me want to continue to read the rest.Imagery is a key literary device used in this passage. The words and the blatancy of them make this very descriptive. I was imagining how this whole opening scene would look. The purpose of this passage, just like any passage in the beginning of a book, is to catch the readers attention. Which this does, it really makes you want to know why a boulder is on this characters head, and who is this person that keeps touching her cheek. You want to know all of this and that's why you'll continue to read. By not telling you who they are or what is happening, it creates a mysterious mood, which just further interests people. This passage, I think, allows us to realize something about humans. That we try to hold onto things that make us feel good. We would give up anything so that we feel good, even if it's just for a moment. We sometimes even rather have temporary relief rather than suffer more. Why? Because we want to feel good. No one ever wants to feel bad, or pain, or sadness. We want to feel like we are okay. Like Abby, the girl who has the boulder on her head, did not even know who this person was that was caressing her cheek but it made her feel good. And so she let them do it, in order to relive the pain that she was suffering from.
Passage #2
"It's all clear why she's crying; it's because I have won. She is no longer closer to Sam's heart. My own heart is so warm and full of Sam; it is the happiest I've been in so long." (Heltzel 82)
This passage really made one idea prominent to me. That, as humans, we often times find others losses as our wins. For example, sports. The opposing team would lose, but to us that is fine because as long as we win then everything is okay. As long as we, well more of a particular individual, win then that's all we really care about. We don't stop in the middle of the game and say, "Oh wait, the other people may feel sad if they lose, so maybe we should let them win or even tie with them." It doesn't go that way. We are selfish beings. We want and want, and never want to lose. Mostly because, in terms of survival of the fittest, losing means dying. I'm sure many can relate to this because, if two people liked one individual then of course you'd want to be the one "chosen". I think the purpose of this passage is to highlight the selfishness of human beings. Like explained in the previous response above, humans are selfish. It's not always intentional or because they are trying to be mean. It's just apart of who we are as a species. We want things, and if that means that someone else who wants the same thing has to get hurt, then they will. That's not how everyone thinks, but the majority of life is just like that. We disregard other's emotions as long as we are okay. The author's word choice and more of how the words flow help show the selfish and somewhat evilness of Abby. The sentences are short, and to the point. Also hardly any conjunctions are used, making it sound more robotic and stale almost. Like I've talked about before, this passage just shows us how human beings can be sometimes. It's not necessarily all of them, just most of them. It's sad because we should care about each other, and no matter how much we say that we do, if we were put into a situation that required making a decision that would either benefit you or someone else, we'd choose ourselves. In some cases, there are, however, people who are indeed selfless and do put others before themselves. And, it's these people who make the human race tolerable, because we aren't the best, but when we see people who are willing to put others before themselves, that's what makes the world better. Like mothers who will die for their children, or fire fighters who will run, voluntarily, into a burning building to save someones life. In previous posts, I talked about how we tend to hold onto things that make us happy, even if it's not the best for us. This just further shows how much human beings want. We want so much for ourselves. We want things that make us happy, we want happiness. For us, even if we're not consciously thinking of it, we want all the time. It's an instinct.
Passage #3
" I am desperate for change." (Heltzel 109)
In this passage Abby realizes that everything seems to be going back to how it was before. Things are starting to revert back to their old ways. This idea of retreating only makes Abby feel uneasy. Abby describes how this makes her feel by saying, " My stomach has turned more nervous, and I'm always sick..." Although this does not seem to be a big quote, it still means something. Not specifically about this book but about humans. There are two types of people, those who are okay with routines and those who are for change. Abby, in this case, is the type of person that seeks change. This quote, at least this sentence, compared to the rest of the sentences in this passage, is short. By making this specific sentence short, I believe the author attempts to achieve a point. He is making a very short and bold statement. Although simple, it says so much. All Abby wants is change. She doesn't want to go back to the way things were, where she'd always worry about Sam. Like the way she felt when Amanda was around, because she felt that gap between her and Sam. This just tells us more about what it means to be human. As creatures with intellectual minds, we strive for change. This change can be as simple as doing something spontaneous in our day. Or as complex as a life changing decision, like a career change. Like i mentioned before, there are people who are for change and then there are those who are against it. Those who are against it are that way because they are comfortable. Comfortable with what they have at the moment. Change scares them, when people are afraid of things they always revert back to their old ways. In contrast, those who are for change see it as a way to better their lives. They see it as an opportunity to experience new things. Yeah, they may be scared of it, but they think about the benefits rather than the negatives. As humans, it is impossible for us not to experience change.
Looking back on my previous posts, I realize that the book is changing greatly. I see that there really is not that great of a character development. Abby is still this paranoid girl that holds onto Sam. This could be because Sam was the one that helped her out through her hard times. She wants to be with him all the time, all she ever focuses on is him. On another note, besides the book, I start to gather more ideas on what it means to be human. We are very needy people. We need things to make us feel good, and when we have those things we try to hold onto them for as long as we can. Even if they make us feel bad sometimes, if we like it we want it. For example in this case, Sam probably isnt the best for Abby, because he causes her to think in bad ways. Like she cant just be, she's always thinking about him and he really just makes her like a paranoid person.
Passage #4
"Chills crawl up my spine as I read. The article is sad it is a horrible thing to have happened to a family. Part of me wonders if I am connected to this at all-it seems far-fetched. It occurs to me that Sam really did just want to protect me from seeing the ugliness of the world, like he says. That he just wanted to keep Circle Nine from hurting me, like he always does." (Heltzel 120-121)
I really think that this fire that is talked about in this paper is the one she was in that night that Sam helped her. That would explain the sudden chills that she gets when she sees the news article. I say this because why else would she suddenly feel she was somehow related to this? In the back of her mind, somewhere, she knows that this is what happened to her. I feel like she's afraid to admit it. And the part where she talks about Sam wanting to just save her from the "ugliness" of the world, it just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like Sam just tries to keep her around because he doesn't want to be alone in the forest. I feel like Sam is afraid to leave the forest and live outside of it because he's so used to it. So he just tries to keep her around. I believe that the purpose of the passage is to allow the audience, whoever is reading this book, to make a connection. The connection that Abby was indeed in this fire that the article talks about. The word choice, " Chills crawl up my spine as I read." the word "chills" really makes me more sure that this was Abby. Because why else would she feel this way? In a way it sort of foreshadows what is going to happen later. It allows me to predict that Abby will find out that this fire happened to her. I also think that because the constant phrase or something similar to that sort, "...Sam really did just want to protect me me from seeing the ugliness of the world, like he says." This makes me feel like Sam is going to do something bad or that he has done something bad. Because the constant saying of this phrase almost makes it seem like Abby is trying to tell herself that he is doing something right.
Final Analysis of Social Critique - After finishing the text, analyze the author’s purpose and what he/she critiques about our society. What issues inspired this text? To support your response, provide some other articles that illustrate how the issues are present in our society, and reference them in your analysis. (Use quotations and provide a works cited section at the end of the post).
The authors purpose is to show us how traumatic events in our lives can thoroughly effect us. Often times when people experience events that impact them in bad way they try to cope with it. In the book Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel, the character Abby does just this. She awakens to find herself outside of a building with smoke and fire. The only other human she finds around is a boy named Sam. Because Sam saved her and helped her she felt as though she had to repay him and trust him. Because she had no memory of her life or what it was like before she had nothing to compare it to now. So she just accepted what was now happening. She found comfort in the only thing she knew. I believe that the author tries to say that as human beings when we go through traumatic events we try our best to block it out. Our minds force us to block it out so that we wont remember such a terrible thing. This book was more about what happened to Abby and the mystery behind her waking up and not knowing who she was, instead of environmental issues. But in a way, it does relate because when environmental issues such as catastrophes happen people find them as traumatic. So most people that do go through catastrophes caused by the environment are affected emotionally. For example, if one were to in the middle of a flood or a hurricane that is severe then it may leave them to be traumatized.
Natural disasters not only can cause physical damage, but emotional damage as well. People are left with nothing after these natural disasters occur, leaving them feeling empty and sometimes alone. They at first only can see the damage that has been done, like the physical damage but then after, when everything subsides they feel the emotional and mental damage.
These people who have survived theses natural disasters feel different emotions. They are in shock at first that they actually survived then they feel relived because they are alive. Then they look for help because they are at a loss of words often and almost begin to feel hopeless. They don't know what to do next. What is worse is when loved ones are lost. The effects that disasters can have on individuals are not only physical but emotional, often times causing people to feel a variety of emotions. As if it were not already hard enough to deal with the loss of their property and homes, they have to deal with it emotionally and mentally.
Brozan, Nadine. "EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 June 1983. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
The article circulates around clean energy. Obama recently has enforced more that we need clean energy sources, relying mostly on solar and wind power. However in Texas it is harder for them because of budgets. Although having a mandate approved for 5880 megawatts of renewable power capacity by 2015, the funding towards the wind farms have been almost blocked making it harder for them to work.
They are trying to renew the funding towards these wind farms because Texas was well known for them and if they lose their customers to opposing states such as Oklahoman, Nebraska, or Kansas then they will be in serious amounts of trouble.
Funding to places like this will help us with the environment greatly because the money will not only be going to somewhere that needs it, but it will also be doing good for the world. We need to start spending our money wisely on things that will help us in the long term.
Galbraith, Kate. "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE; Clean Energy Foresees Fight in Texas Legislature." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Passage #1
"How does my sister get that life? She left her old job as a promoter for Carbon Dating with Kieran last summer and got a job in Thailand working for an eco tour holiday company called LoveWorks, which basically charges 5,000 to fly guilty white people out to Thailand to build bad log huts for skinny villagers in rain forests." (p.3)
When I read this, this was in the first couple of pages, and I thought to myself, " Woah they are so quick to introduce these eco friendly companies." This book is supposed to be in the future so I'm questioning whether the author feels that there will be these many eco friendly companies or organizations in the future. It got me thinking about the two paths that the Earth can take, or the paths that we humans can lead it to. We may either continue to harm the Earth as we are now by polluting it or we can help the world, by recycling and creating these eco friendly companies, ones that work hard to make this earth better. I think the author puts this in there so that he gives his opinion or at least show what he hopes for the future.
I think that the purpose of this passage is just for the author to have his input on how he would like the future to be like. Obviously more eco friendly and earth caring. This passage helps a lot with background information too, like telling us about the sister and her life, or where she is at at that time.
I think this shows just how much some people actually care for the environment. Obviously we have those people who don't really care too much. But then we have those who make it their mission to save the world. And these people take any action that they can to do so. Some do the simple things like recycling and not littering. Then there are those who come up with these giant companies that try to do these small things on a larger scale.
Passage #2
"They're rebuilding the barrier, but there's always money and tech problems and so, basically a year after the flood, the whole city's under threat, big time. And the water keeps on rising. Last year, the Thames flooded 34 times. And each time it floods, more people leave. Property prices in the bad areas have dropped to joke levels. Everyone's to live in the hilly bits, like Hapstead and Shooter Hill." (pg.8)
This passage sort of shows us the possible outcome of our future. This could happen to us. It is sort of like forewarning us about the future. If we continue to do things that hurt the environment we can end up living this way. Natural disasters are inevitable and are very destructive, and this may very well be the way the world could end. And this passage shows how the end of the world can be.
The purpose of the passage is to forewarn us about how our lives can turn out to be. How easily we can be affected if such a thing were to happen. The author does a good job at showing us simple aspects such as property prices, that we can relate to being concerned about. For me at least, I can visualize how something like this can happen, because I've seen things like this on the news. Such a thing has happened, like when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. We are familiar with things like this, so we know very well that this can all happen again. We depict the future to be full of disaster, with floods and other events that are chaotic. We do so because that is what we are used to having now, and we believe that change will not occur to make anything better. So we think that we will continue down this path and that things will just continue to get worse. And right now, there are terrible conditions in the world that people do live through due to natural disasters that have been caused by pollution or other things that humans have done to the world. Global issues that occur in our world are often caused by us alone. We set ourselves up for these disasters that occur because we often take advantage of our world. We pollute it and use up its resources until they are at low or minimum points and this proves to be a dangerous event for us all. We are really in control of our futures and about how our planet can be. Instead of making it worse, we should make strides towards cleaning it up and being more eco friendly.
Passage #3
" When I got back to the docks, I found it'd all flooded again and there was a sort of wet black mist hanging over the place with the sun a hanging pale disk in the grayed-out sky." (Llyod 23)
In certain areas of the world I think we need to be more aware of certain things than other. For instance in this case, Laura lives in England and in England it rains a lot. So they have to seriously aware of water levels and things as such, I'm assuming. So if water levels rise on their own due to ice bergs melting and places like England that already do receive a lot of rainfall, then it could very well cause things like flooding to happen. Flooding is a very dangerous thing that happens a lot throughout everywhere, and although we just see it as normal, in a lot of cases it could very well be fatal. Especially flash floods, they are often known to be quick and dangerous. They can sweep people off of their feet, even the littlest amount of water. Flooding in houses is bad too, causing property damage. In some cases around the world floods have gotten so bad that people have had to evacuate their houses and move to higher grounds because there are possibilities that the water levels may rise more. Water levels rising is something we can be concerned about a lot too in the present. For example if water levels get that high they can easily cover most islands around New York and areas around there, causing many to lose their houses and perhaps lives. The author uses great imagery to show the setting of where Laura lives near. It appears to be very gloomy and dull. To me it sounds like a typical day in England just because of the "grayed-out sky". The author also kind of just makes a simple statement when he talks about how it flooded like if it was just something ordinary. This sort of could be implying that bad things like this happen so often that it is almost casual. This kind of shows how humans can adjust so easily to and get used to certain things without being uncomfortable with them. Like, Laura kind of just said that it had flooded again, like she was so used to it being that way. We humans, once we get used to something we tend to just forget about it and not make a big deal of it. This post relates to the others because it's saying how humans are almost becoming comfortable with these global problems. We are sort of accepting it, and if we continue to accept it, we will just be creating a worse world for ourselves to live in.
Passage #4
" OK, so Discussion Point 3 on the agenda. What trends in the current political climate are ripe for exploitation for the revolution? He gazed around the all. "Obviously at this time, with mass unemployment, the backlash against nuclear power stations, the recession, the failing New Green Deal initiative of the government-all of these give us great hope to build a new future for the workers" I glanced up quickly, expecting it to be a joke, but no one was laughing The workers? Revolution? Red Dreads Parsnip Boy raised his hand. " With like...uh....all due respect this kind of...sort of...talk at meetings is kind of like...uh... redundant. We gotta get...active. I mean I sort of ...like to know how many of us are ....uh...like supporting the ....uh....Workers' Walk from Manchester to uh....basically uh...London?" (Llyod 28)
This passage really confused me. They talked about how the environment and its issues would cause a revolution but then they said how they could build a new future for the workers. I get where the whole idea of a revolution occurring due to natural disasters. Because when people have to live in rough conditions they often go crazy and begin to become desperate and get antsy. They feel like they need to be attended to first and be treated by the fact is that everyone needs help but people are just naturally greedy. I dont understand, however, how all of those negatives will give rise to a positive. Usually when negative things happen like that things just get worse, unless people start doing things like creating bills or actually moving towards fixing those problems. And I completely agree with Parsnip Boy. Often times, like even in the present a lot of the times people just talk about what they can do to better the world around them. They never really set a course of action and go through with it. Which I feel like is all we do, people need to start doing things. Instead of complaining about having a terrible economy or how the world needs to be careful with global warming, we should be making strides towards doing things about it. I like how the author uses ellipses to show how the character in a way is sort of "slow", like they are not the smartest person. But even this person that may not be so smart can see that they actually really do need to do something, and take action. In a way you can relate this to how people with not the highest intelligence see how our economy now and our world needs to get better and that we need to start doing things about it. Even the simplest of minds realize this, like children. I think that this revels that humans, after a while of just talking about doing things, soon realize that action needs to be taken in order for anything really to happen or else we will just continue to be stuck and get absolutely nothing done. This idea can relate to past posts because in other posts I talked about how humans got comfortable with these problems that we have and dont really do anything about them until its too late. We also get comfortable with just being stuck on an idea and not taking action and doing it. We sort of just continue to talk about it, when in reality we should be getting up and start to do things.
Final Analysis of Social Critique
The authors purpose was to show us how human beings need to start taking action towards making our world better. Fighting for what is right in the world and how the world should be. For example, Laura and her band sing a lot about how corrupt the government is and environmental issues as well. But she realizes that instead of just singing about them that she must do something about it. Laura and the rest of London were done with how their country was. After everything it went through before, and everything it was going through right now with the floods, people living in disgusting areas and strict rules on the people. Especially with the carbon rations, they were only given so much carbon rations that it was like impossible for them to travel anywhere or use their utilities in their homes. They were put on such a tight leash that they felt restricted and that did not sit well with a lot of people. I think that the author also shows us how we the government can quickly restrict us if the world got to a point this bad. We would be on such a tight grip with them. So in order to prevent anything bad from happening, we need to start doing things to help out the environment before it's too late.
Global Warming is a pretty touchy topic. And whether or not we are to blame for it is up for discussion, but I do think that we have a lot to do with it. If we do not begin to do something about these issues now, we will literally be driving our planet straight into the ground. Sea levels may rise, just causing parts of the world to become completely submerged underwater. Such occurrences such as Hurricane Katrina may very well happen again to certain parts of the United States. Green house emissions are dangerously high.
It is our job to fix we we have done wrong. We need to act and do things that will ensure us that our futures will be indeed bright and not one that includes natural disasters occurring often. We need to undo our wrongs.
"Global Warming Is Our Fault." COSMOS Magazine Global Warming Is Our Fault Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
The Earth contains many natural resources that we humans often take advantage of. We see its abundance but we don't realize that it can run out. In this article one of the natural resources that is depleting is cryolite, which is used to process aluminum. Because this is happening, we have now gone to synthetic variations of the resource. There is only so much that we can have man made just for our use. It's not even the real thing. It shows how we have over time, become in a way "fake". We use "fillers", not the real thing just something that may serve as a substitute for that item. This really, I feel, lowers the quality and essence of the resource.
We need to be careful about how much we use. They believe that if the coal runs out in Britain, the economy may easily crash. Certain parts of the world rely on these natural resources for their economy to thrive and prosper. We need to be weary of how much of these resources we use and that we do not use them all up. These economic crashes may just lead to worse things, and bring down the government and its people with it.
"Our island was a little pocket of prosperity due to food farmland, planning, and hard work, but until I stepped out of that alley and took a hard look at Seattle, I hadn't really understood how blessed my small, simple life had been. Around me stood the crumbling shell of a great city, covered with obscene graffiti, littered with trash. My parents had met at grad school in Seattle, and their stories of laughter, music, food, wine, and friends were a stark contrast to the empty, abandoned street that stretched out in front of me. After all the big governments had seized the last of the oil, which crashed the world economy and caused the Great Collapse of 2031, most people had left the city and moved out into the suburbs, where more than one family could share a house and they could grown food in their yards. It was like a giant broom had swept the streets clear of humanity, leaving only emptiness and wreckage behind." (Anthony 14)
I feel as though if we were to revert to how Molly is living now with her parents in Canada on that little island, that we would be better off. If we went back to farming ourselves instead of having to go to the supermarket to buy processed food and vegetables there. If we all grew our own food, and went back to those times that we would be able to prevent a lot. There would be less obesity in the world, there would be less factories emitting dangerous chemicals into our planet. We wouldn't need to use as many natural resources as we do now. We would be able to prevent the exhaustion of them. We see that the exhaustion of natural resources such as oil, may very well lead to economic crashes. I think that the author sort of sets up a parallel to the Great Depression. In the Great Depression, money was the so called "resource", we took advantage of it and spent it and put all of it in our stock markets. So when the stock markets crashed, everyone who had invested their money in there and in the banks soon became poverty stricken. And in this case, the resource is oil, we take advantage of the oil then it soon will be depleted. This depletion leads to economic crashes because we rely on that source so much. This book takes place in 2041, in the far future. Our depictions on how the future will be include running out of resources which may very well be what the author was trying to portray.
Passage #2
"His tone had softened, but his eyes flashed with anger. "We were getting by until a couple of months ago, but a few weeks in the hospital wiped out our entire savings and the pension fund dried up last year. I had to sell everything I could just to buy food." He'd sold his possessions to buy food and he had the nerve to be and at Mom for becoming a farmer? I didn't understand him at all. I took a hard look at the room and saw that it really was much shabbier than I would've expected from my mom's descriptions." (Anthony 71)
People or industries go out of their way to make this food that is processed and that is unhealthy for people. They do so because of time, time is money and money is business for them. It's almost as if they do not care about the people eating it as long as they have money in their pockets. Instead of doing this, by us growing our own food by farming and planting fruits and vegetables, we would not only be able to have food right there in our reach but also food that is not contaminated with various chemicals that are in the processed foods. Also it would cost less for us. Money, I think, is the problem when wanting to buy healthy food. All of the organic and healthy food always costs more so people that cannot afford it often do not have the opportunity to eat that. The unhealthy, processed food is the cheapest so people are more likely to buy that. I think that becoming a farmer is just generally a smart idea, but people have seriously become lazy. No one wants to do their own work. We hire people to do such mundane tasks just so that we will not have to do them. Humans really need to stop doing this. We need to realize what we have to do and do them. Not wait around or wait for others to do our work for us. If we stopped being lazy and went back to doing our own labor and farming we'd not only have healthy and natural food, but we'd have money that may be used in different ways.
Passage #3
"I'm just wondering why if they were rich enough to buy such a nice house, and my grandpa was a doctor for so long, they don't have any money." "My guess is no liquid assets." "What do you mean?" Spill was pulling us up a pretty steep hill, but he never lost his breath at all and continued to talk normally. "People with old money are still rich," he explained. "And there have always been, and always will be, the poor." We reached the top of the hill, and the road flattened out into open countryside. "For a while," he continued, "there were people like your grandparents, who earned food salaries and reinvested their savings in technology and real estate. They made money fast, but it was mostly on paper. They were rich in assets but usually had a ton of debt. When the Collapse came, they lost everything." "Oh." " The truly rich knew that the oil was almost gone and that the governments of the bigger countries would have to make a move of some sort," he continued." (Anthony 116)
This REALLY reminds me of The Great Depression. How everyone relied on the stock markets and invested so much into them. As well as putting their money in banks instead of keeping it at home "underneath their mattresses" like the old times. So when the stock market crashed and the banks and many businesses around were shut down and closed all of those people lost everything they had. It always seems that those with the most money always receive the most benefits. They may easily buy their way. If they need to move from one place to another they can because they can afford it while the poor suffer in that area. It doesn't seem fair what so ever. I think the author tries to tell us that once we become dependent on something that it means trouble. It is never good to become too dependent on something because once it is taken away then it's almost like you are lost after that. He could be possibly warning us that we need to no depend so much on what we depend on now. Some things could be like resources, processed foods, and our highly advanced technology. Especially when we talk about technology because people now a days can't even leave their houses without some sort of technology whether it be their phones, tablets, or iPods. What if something were to happen with our satellites and we had no more connection or anything like that. We would be in so much trouble. We would turn into incapable beings because we rely to much on our technology.
Passage #4
"That's when I saw Dad's email about the border. Ian McClure CANADA BORDER CLOSING!!! September 21 Molly, Return home ASAP. Epidemic breakout of polio around the Great Lakes has shut down parts of Canadian-U.S. border. Already setting up quarantine tents in Ontario w/ long delays-three weeks or more. Other provinces sure to follow to keep it from spreading. Don't get stuck. Hurry, Dad. Panic washed over me. We had to get home! Dad had sent the email five days ago and I hoped we weren't already too late. I took ten seconds to send a message saying I had the money and we were on our way and then I signed off." (Anthony 180)
Things like this scare me. Like diseases and viruses spreading from country to country. Especially now a days, since air travel is a constant thing, and there are so many other means of transportation. Like subways, buses, and places where people are packed together tightly and there are not the cleanest conditions. Like, in the present, Japan is one of the first places that comes to mind because its high population and not the cleanest living conditions makes it a perfect place for germs to spread fairly quickly. Such things can be caused my environmental issues too such as natural disasters. Like if a hurricane hit and floods a certain area and all of the nasty sewage stuff comes up and infects the water. Things like that happen a lot. And these things can be very dangerous to not only that particular area but it can spread to surrounding areas and pollute their stuff. This also reminded me of like the end of the world. Like people attempting to flee to other areas just trying to get to somewhere safe. I think this part of the book the author did a good job at sort of adding suspense to it. Because the letter kind of creates a "cross the finish line before time runs out" kind of feel. Which allows the reader to feel like they are in a hurry as well. I think that things like this will happen in the future more often if we do not make strides towards bettering the planet.
It amazes me the fact that we can be running out of such a vital resource like water. But it is also really hard to do anything about a drought because it is something that just happens naturally. Sometimes we cannot control what the Earth just does because that is how that specific area is. The midwest being dry and the northeast being cold and having snow. They just naturally are that way. This become especially dangerous when it starts to effect the economy. If there is little supply of water then the people who depend on water for their jobs like pool cleaners and car wash operators and farmers then they may easily be out of a job. If jobs are lost then the economy faces a major hit which could possibly cause it to crash. It is scary how connected everything is to each other. We need to be careful with resources, especially water. It is so essential to life.
Galbraith, Kate. "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE; Even After Rains, Facing Long-Term Water Needs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Book #1~Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel
From what I know of the book, Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel, the main character Abby wakes up next to a burning building and remembers nothing of what happened to her. Her clothes are full of soot and ashes. There is only one person that is alive, named Sam. She doesn't know Sam at all but being that he is the only other human she has to trust him. Sam takes her to live with him in this cave that he has turned into his home. Abby begins to have flash backs and spurts of memories here and there. With these memories she soon starts to remember what happened. Things soon change after she begins to remember.I expect the authors critique to be about something how we as humans caused so much harm to the world that we were its demise. We know that there's something wrong because there are only two people left in the world. So something catastrophic could have happened. And perhaps this catastrophe was our fault.
Article-We Are All From New Orleans Now: Climate Change, Hurricanes and the Fate of America's Coastal Cities
This article basically talks about the fate of the coastal cities of America. This relates to the book because it talks a bit about some of the natural disasters that have occurred. Mostly the most recent one Hurricane Sandy and a past one, Hurricane Katrina. This article really shows how something like natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can happen to all. Potentially, we can, at anytime, be affected terribly by these catastrophes. Natural disasters happen and affect not only the region they hit but the world as a whole. They have a great force about them, so multiple ones at once are able to cause something so great that it could be the end of our world. Not only hurricanes but other natural disasters such as volcanoes exploding or things as such. Things that could have possibly happened in the book, Circle 9. A disaster so sever that it could end the human population.
http://www.thenation.com/article/170894/we-are-all-new-orleans-now-climate-change-hurricanes-and-fate-americas-coastal-cities
Passage #1
" I wake up and there is a boulder in my skull and a hand on my cheek. I startle and struggle to lift myself from the ground, and when I do bolts of pain stab my eyes and brain. I lie back down. I let the hand caress my cheek, because its the only good thing I feel right now, and I want to hang on to it." (Heltzel 7)The passage is the very first opening passage of the story. I chose it, just because it was a very interesting way to start a book. When I read it I was sort of like brought back by its forwardness. It did not hold back and start a story in a generic way. It had a really interesting and captivating opening. I for one, was like, " Woah, how did the boulder land on her?". The beginning really made me want to continue to read the rest.Imagery is a key literary device used in this passage. The words and the blatancy of them make this very descriptive. I was imagining how this whole opening scene would look. The purpose of this passage, just like any passage in the beginning of a book, is to catch the readers attention. Which this does, it really makes you want to know why a boulder is on this characters head, and who is this person that keeps touching her cheek. You want to know all of this and that's why you'll continue to read. By not telling you who they are or what is happening, it creates a mysterious mood, which just further interests people. This passage, I think, allows us to realize something about humans. That we try to hold onto things that make us feel good. We would give up anything so that we feel good, even if it's just for a moment. We sometimes even rather have temporary relief rather than suffer more. Why? Because we want to feel good. No one ever wants to feel bad, or pain, or sadness. We want to feel like we are okay. Like Abby, the girl who has the boulder on her head, did not even know who this person was that was caressing her cheek but it made her feel good. And so she let them do it, in order to relive the pain that she was suffering from.
Passage #2
"It's all clear why she's crying; it's because I have won. She is no longer closer to Sam's heart. My own heart is so warm and full of Sam; it is the happiest I've been in so long." (Heltzel 82)
This passage really made one idea prominent to me. That, as humans, we often times find others losses as our wins. For example, sports. The opposing team would lose, but to us that is fine because as long as we win then everything is okay. As long as we, well more of a particular individual, win then that's all we really care about. We don't stop in the middle of the game and say, "Oh wait, the other people may feel sad if they lose, so maybe we should let them win or even tie with them." It doesn't go that way. We are selfish beings. We want and want, and never want to lose. Mostly because, in terms of survival of the fittest, losing means dying. I'm sure many can relate to this because, if two people liked one individual then of course you'd want to be the one "chosen". I think the purpose of this passage is to highlight the selfishness of human beings. Like explained in the previous response above, humans are selfish. It's not always intentional or because they are trying to be mean. It's just apart of who we are as a species. We want things, and if that means that someone else who wants the same thing has to get hurt, then they will. That's not how everyone thinks, but the majority of life is just like that. We disregard other's emotions as long as we are okay. The author's word choice and more of how the words flow help show the selfish and somewhat evilness of Abby. The sentences are short, and to the point. Also hardly any conjunctions are used, making it sound more robotic and stale almost. Like I've talked about before, this passage just shows us how human beings can be sometimes. It's not necessarily all of them, just most of them. It's sad because we should care about each other, and no matter how much we say that we do, if we were put into a situation that required making a decision that would either benefit you or someone else, we'd choose ourselves. In some cases, there are, however, people who are indeed selfless and do put others before themselves. And, it's these people who make the human race tolerable, because we aren't the best, but when we see people who are willing to put others before themselves, that's what makes the world better. Like mothers who will die for their children, or fire fighters who will run, voluntarily, into a burning building to save someones life. In previous posts, I talked about how we tend to hold onto things that make us happy, even if it's not the best for us. This just further shows how much human beings want. We want so much for ourselves. We want things that make us happy, we want happiness. For us, even if we're not consciously thinking of it, we want all the time. It's an instinct.
Passage #3
" I am desperate for change." (Heltzel 109)In this passage Abby realizes that everything seems to be going back to how it was before. Things are starting to revert back to their old ways. This idea of retreating only makes Abby feel uneasy. Abby describes how this makes her feel by saying, " My stomach has turned more nervous, and I'm always sick..." Although this does not seem to be a big quote, it still means something. Not specifically about this book but about humans. There are two types of people, those who are okay with routines and those who are for change. Abby, in this case, is the type of person that seeks change.
This quote, at least this sentence, compared to the rest of the sentences in this passage, is short. By making this specific sentence short, I believe the author attempts to achieve a point. He is making a very short and bold statement. Although simple, it says so much. All Abby wants is change. She doesn't want to go back to the way things were, where she'd always worry about Sam. Like the way she felt when Amanda was around, because she felt that gap between her and Sam.
This just tells us more about what it means to be human. As creatures with intellectual minds, we strive for change. This change can be as simple as doing something spontaneous in our day. Or as complex as a life changing decision, like a career change. Like i mentioned before, there are people who are for change and then there are those who are against it. Those who are against it are that way because they are comfortable. Comfortable with what they have at the moment. Change scares them, when people are afraid of things they always revert back to their old ways. In contrast, those who are for change see it as a way to better their lives. They see it as an opportunity to experience new things. Yeah, they may be scared of it, but they think about the benefits rather than the negatives. As humans, it is impossible for us not to experience change.
Looking back on my previous posts, I realize that the book is changing greatly. I see that there really is not that great of a character development. Abby is still this paranoid girl that holds onto Sam. This could be because Sam was the one that helped her out through her hard times. She wants to be with him all the time, all she ever focuses on is him. On another note, besides the book, I start to gather more ideas on what it means to be human. We are very needy people. We need things to make us feel good, and when we have those things we try to hold onto them for as long as we can. Even if they make us feel bad sometimes, if we like it we want it. For example in this case, Sam probably isnt the best for Abby, because he causes her to think in bad ways. Like she cant just be, she's always thinking about him and he really just makes her like a paranoid person.
Passage #4
"Chills crawl up my spine as I read. The article is sad it is a horrible thing to have happened to a family. Part of me wonders if I am connected to this at all-it seems far-fetched. It occurs to me that Sam really did just want to protect me from seeing the ugliness of the world, like he says. That he just wanted to keep Circle Nine from hurting me, like he always does." (Heltzel 120-121)
I really think that this fire that is talked about in this paper is the one she was in that night that Sam helped her. That would explain the sudden chills that she gets when she sees the news article. I say this because why else would she suddenly feel she was somehow related to this? In the back of her mind, somewhere, she knows that this is what happened to her. I feel like she's afraid to admit it. And the part where she talks about Sam wanting to just save her from the "ugliness" of the world, it just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like Sam just tries to keep her around because he doesn't want to be alone in the forest. I feel like Sam is afraid to leave the forest and live outside of it because he's so used to it. So he just tries to keep her around. I believe that the purpose of the passage is to allow the audience, whoever is reading this book, to make a connection. The connection that Abby was indeed in this fire that the article talks about. The word choice, " Chills crawl up my spine as I read." the word "chills" really makes me more sure that this was Abby. Because why else would she feel this way? In a way it sort of foreshadows what is going to happen later. It allows me to predict that Abby will find out that this fire happened to her. I also think that because the constant phrase or something similar to that sort, "...Sam really did just want to protect me me from seeing the ugliness of the world, like he says." This makes me feel like Sam is going to do something bad or that he has done something bad. Because the constant saying of this phrase almost makes it seem like Abby is trying to tell herself that he is doing something right.
Final Analysis of Social Critique
- After finishing the text, analyze the author’s purpose and what he/she critiques about our society. What issues inspired this text? To support your response, provide some other articles that illustrate how the issues are present in our society, and reference them in your analysis. (Use quotations and provide a works cited section at the end of the post).
The authors purpose is to show us how traumatic events in our lives can thoroughly effect us. Often times when people experience events that impact them in bad way they try to cope with it. In the book Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel, the character Abby does just this. She awakens to find herself outside of a building with smoke and fire. The only other human she finds around is a boy named Sam. Because Sam saved her and helped her she felt as though she had to repay him and trust him. Because she had no memory of her life or what it was like before she had nothing to compare it to now. So she just accepted what was now happening. She found comfort in the only thing she knew. I believe that the author tries to say that as human beings when we go through traumatic events we try our best to block it out. Our minds force us to block it out so that we wont remember such a terrible thing. This book was more about what happened to Abby and the mystery behind her waking up and not knowing who she was, instead of environmental issues. But in a way, it does relate because when environmental issues such as catastrophes happen people find them as traumatic. So most people that do go through catastrophes caused by the environment are affected emotionally. For example, if one were to in the middle of a flood or a hurricane that is severe then it may leave them to be traumatized.
Article: Emotional Effects Of Natural Disasters
Natural disasters not only can cause physical damage, but emotional damage as well. People are left with nothing after these natural disasters occur, leaving them feeling empty and sometimes alone. They at first only can see the damage that has been done, like the physical damage but then after, when everything subsides they feel the emotional and mental damage.These people who have survived theses natural disasters feel different emotions. They are in shock at first that they actually survived then they feel relived because they are alive. Then they look for help because they are at a loss of words often and almost begin to feel hopeless. They don't know what to do next. What is worse is when loved ones are lost. The effects that disasters can have on individuals are not only physical but emotional, often times causing people to feel a variety of emotions. As if it were not already hard enough to deal with the loss of their property and homes, they have to deal with it emotionally and mentally.
Brozan, Nadine. "EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 June 1983. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Book #2~The Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd
Introduction~
Article: Clean Energy Faces Hurdles In LegislatureThe article circulates around clean energy. Obama recently has enforced more that we need clean energy sources, relying mostly on solar and wind power. However in Texas it is harder for them because of budgets. Although having a mandate approved for 5880 megawatts of renewable power capacity by 2015, the funding towards the wind farms have been almost blocked making it harder for them to work.
They are trying to renew the funding towards these wind farms because Texas was well known for them and if they lose their customers to opposing states such as Oklahoman, Nebraska, or Kansas then they will be in serious amounts of trouble.
Funding to places like this will help us with the environment greatly because the money will not only be going to somewhere that needs it, but it will also be doing good for the world. We need to start spending our money wisely on things that will help us in the long term.
Galbraith, Kate. "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE; Clean Energy Foresees Fight in Texas Legislature." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Passage #1
"How does my sister get that life? She left her old job as a promoter for Carbon Dating with Kieran last summer and got a job in Thailand working for an eco tour holiday company called LoveWorks, which basically charges 5,000 to fly guilty white people out to Thailand to build bad log huts for skinny villagers in rain forests." (p.3)When I read this, this was in the first couple of pages, and I thought to myself, " Woah they are so quick to introduce these eco friendly companies." This book is supposed to be in the future so I'm questioning whether the author feels that there will be these many eco friendly companies or organizations in the future. It got me thinking about the two paths that the Earth can take, or the paths that we humans can lead it to. We may either continue to harm the Earth as we are now by polluting it or we can help the world, by recycling and creating these eco friendly companies, ones that work hard to make this earth better. I think the author puts this in there so that he gives his opinion or at least show what he hopes for the future.
I think that the purpose of this passage is just for the author to have his input on how he would like the future to be like. Obviously more eco friendly and earth caring. This passage helps a lot with background information too, like telling us about the sister and her life, or where she is at at that time.
I think this shows just how much some people actually care for the environment. Obviously we have those people who don't really care too much. But then we have those who make it their mission to save the world. And these people take any action that they can to do so. Some do the simple things like recycling and not littering. Then there are those who come up with these giant companies that try to do these small things on a larger scale.
Passage #2
"They're rebuilding the barrier, but there's always money and tech problems and so, basically a year after the flood, the whole city's under threat, big time. And the water keeps on rising. Last year, the Thames flooded 34 times. And each time it floods, more people leave. Property prices in the bad areas have dropped to joke levels. Everyone's to live in the hilly bits, like Hapstead and Shooter Hill." (pg.8)This passage sort of shows us the possible outcome of our future. This could happen to us. It is sort of like forewarning us about the future. If we continue to do things that hurt the environment we can end up living this way. Natural disasters are inevitable and are very destructive, and this may very well be the way the world could end. And this passage shows how the end of the world can be.
The purpose of the passage is to forewarn us about how our lives can turn out to be. How easily we can be affected if such a thing were to happen. The author does a good job at showing us simple aspects such as property prices, that we can relate to being concerned about. For me at least, I can visualize how something like this can happen, because I've seen things like this on the news. Such a thing has happened, like when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. We are familiar with things like this, so we know very well that this can all happen again.
We depict the future to be full of disaster, with floods and other events that are chaotic. We do so because that is what we are used to having now, and we believe that change will not occur to make anything better. So we think that we will continue down this path and that things will just continue to get worse. And right now, there are terrible conditions in the world that people do live through due to natural disasters that have been caused by pollution or other things that humans have done to the world.
Global issues that occur in our world are often caused by us alone. We set ourselves up for these disasters that occur because we often take advantage of our world. We pollute it and use up its resources until they are at low or minimum points and this proves to be a dangerous event for us all. We are really in control of our futures and about how our planet can be. Instead of making it worse, we should make strides towards cleaning it up and being more eco friendly.
Passage #3
" When I got back to the docks, I found it'd all flooded again and there was a sort of wet black mist hanging over the place with the sun a hanging pale disk in the grayed-out sky." (Llyod 23)In certain areas of the world I think we need to be more aware of certain things than other. For instance in this case, Laura lives in England and in England it rains a lot. So they have to seriously aware of water levels and things as such, I'm assuming. So if water levels rise on their own due to ice bergs melting and places like England that already do receive a lot of rainfall, then it could very well cause things like flooding to happen. Flooding is a very dangerous thing that happens a lot throughout everywhere, and although we just see it as normal, in a lot of cases it could very well be fatal. Especially flash floods, they are often known to be quick and dangerous. They can sweep people off of their feet, even the littlest amount of water. Flooding in houses is bad too, causing property damage. In some cases around the world floods have gotten so bad that people have had to evacuate their houses and move to higher grounds because there are possibilities that the water levels may rise more. Water levels rising is something we can be concerned about a lot too in the present. For example if water levels get that high they can easily cover most islands around New York and areas around there, causing many to lose their houses and perhaps lives. The author uses great imagery to show the setting of where Laura lives near. It appears to be very gloomy and dull. To me it sounds like a typical day in England just because of the "grayed-out sky". The author also kind of just makes a simple statement when he talks about how it flooded like if it was just something ordinary. This sort of could be implying that bad things like this happen so often that it is almost casual. This kind of shows how humans can adjust so easily to and get used to certain things without being uncomfortable with them. Like, Laura kind of just said that it had flooded again, like she was so used to it being that way. We humans, once we get used to something we tend to just forget about it and not make a big deal of it. This post relates to the others because it's saying how humans are almost becoming comfortable with these global problems. We are sort of accepting it, and if we continue to accept it, we will just be creating a worse world for ourselves to live in.
Passage #4
" OK, so Discussion Point 3 on the agenda. What trends in the current political climate are ripe for exploitation for the revolution? He gazed around the all. "Obviously at this time, with mass unemployment, the backlash against nuclear power stations, the recession, the failing New Green Deal initiative of the government-all of these give us great hope to build a new future for the workers" I glanced up quickly, expecting it to be a joke, but no one was laughing The workers? Revolution? Red Dreads Parsnip Boy raised his hand. " With like...uh....all due respect this kind of...sort of...talk at meetings is kind of like...uh... redundant. We gotta get...active. I mean I sort of ...like to know how many of us are ....uh...like supporting the ....uh....Workers' Walk from Manchester to uh....basically uh...London?" (Llyod 28)This passage really confused me. They talked about how the environment and its issues would cause a revolution but then they said how they could build a new future for the workers. I get where the whole idea of a revolution occurring due to natural disasters. Because when people have to live in rough conditions they often go crazy and begin to become desperate and get antsy. They feel like they need to be attended to first and be treated by the fact is that everyone needs help but people are just naturally greedy. I dont understand, however, how all of those negatives will give rise to a positive. Usually when negative things happen like that things just get worse, unless people start doing things like creating bills or actually moving towards fixing those problems. And I completely agree with Parsnip Boy. Often times, like even in the present a lot of the times people just talk about what they can do to better the world around them. They never really set a course of action and go through with it. Which I feel like is all we do, people need to start doing things. Instead of complaining about having a terrible economy or how the world needs to be careful with global warming, we should be making strides towards doing things about it. I like how the author uses ellipses to show how the character in a way is sort of "slow", like they are not the smartest person. But even this person that may not be so smart can see that they actually really do need to do something, and take action. In a way you can relate this to how people with not the highest intelligence see how our economy now and our world needs to get better and that we need to start doing things about it. Even the simplest of minds realize this, like children. I think that this revels that humans, after a while of just talking about doing things, soon realize that action needs to be taken in order for anything really to happen or else we will just continue to be stuck and get absolutely nothing done. This idea can relate to past posts because in other posts I talked about how humans got comfortable with these problems that we have and dont really do anything about them until its too late. We also get comfortable with just being stuck on an idea and not taking action and doing it. We sort of just continue to talk about it, when in reality we should be getting up and start to do things.
Final Analysis of Social Critique
The authors purpose was to show us how human beings need to start taking action towards making our world better. Fighting for what is right in the world and how the world should be. For example, Laura and her band sing a lot about how corrupt the government is and environmental issues as well. But she realizes that instead of just singing about them that she must do something about it. Laura and the rest of London were done with how their country was. After everything it went through before, and everything it was going through right now with the floods, people living in disgusting areas and strict rules on the people. Especially with the carbon rations, they were only given so much carbon rations that it was like impossible for them to travel anywhere or use their utilities in their homes. They were put on such a tight leash that they felt restricted and that did not sit well with a lot of people. I think that the author also shows us how we the government can quickly restrict us if the world got to a point this bad. We would be on such a tight grip with them. So in order to prevent anything bad from happening, we need to start doing things to help out the environment before it's too late.
Article-Global Warming Is Our Fault
Global Warming is a pretty touchy topic. And whether or not we are to blame for it is up for discussion, but I do think that we have a lot to do with it. If we do not begin to do something about these issues now, we will literally be driving our planet straight into the ground. Sea levels may rise, just causing parts of the world to become completely submerged underwater. Such occurrences such as Hurricane Katrina may very well happen again to certain parts of the United States. Green house emissions are dangerously high.
It is our job to fix we we have done wrong. We need to act and do things that will ensure us that our futures will be indeed bright and not one that includes natural disasters occurring often. We need to undo our wrongs.
"Global Warming Is Our Fault." COSMOS Magazine Global Warming Is Our Fault Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Book #3~Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony
Introduction~
Article: Has the Earth Run Out of Any Natural Resources?
The Earth contains many natural resources that we humans often take advantage of. We see its abundance but we don't realize that it can run out. In this article one of the natural resources that is depleting is cryolite, which is used to process aluminum. Because this is happening, we have now gone to synthetic variations of the resource. There is only so much that we can have man made just for our use. It's not even the real thing. It shows how we have over time, become in a way "fake". We use "fillers", not the real thing just something that may serve as a substitute for that item. This really, I feel, lowers the quality and essence of the resource.We need to be careful about how much we use. They believe that if the coal runs out in Britain, the economy may easily crash. Certain parts of the world rely on these natural resources for their economy to thrive and prosper. We need to be weary of how much of these resources we use and that we do not use them all up. These economic crashes may just lead to worse things, and bring down the government and its people with it.
"There Isn't Much Cryolite Anymore." Slate Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Passage #1
"Our island was a little pocket of prosperity due to food farmland, planning, and hard work, but until I stepped out of that alley and took a hard look at Seattle, I hadn't really understood how blessed my small, simple life had been. Around me stood the crumbling shell of a great city, covered with obscene graffiti, littered with trash. My parents had met at grad school in Seattle, and their stories of laughter, music, food, wine, and friends were a stark contrast to the empty, abandoned street that stretched out in front of me. After all the big governments had seized the last of the oil, which crashed the world economy and caused the Great Collapse of 2031, most people had left the city and moved out into the suburbs, where more than one family could share a house and they could grown food in their yards. It was like a giant broom had swept the streets clear of humanity, leaving only emptiness and wreckage behind." (Anthony 14)I feel as though if we were to revert to how Molly is living now with her parents in Canada on that little island, that we would be better off. If we went back to farming ourselves instead of having to go to the supermarket to buy processed food and vegetables there. If we all grew our own food, and went back to those times that we would be able to prevent a lot. There would be less obesity in the world, there would be less factories emitting dangerous chemicals into our planet. We wouldn't need to use as many natural resources as we do now. We would be able to prevent the exhaustion of them. We see that the exhaustion of natural resources such as oil, may very well lead to economic crashes. I think that the author sort of sets up a parallel to the Great Depression. In the Great Depression, money was the so called "resource", we took advantage of it and spent it and put all of it in our stock markets. So when the stock markets crashed, everyone who had invested their money in there and in the banks soon became poverty stricken. And in this case, the resource is oil, we take advantage of the oil then it soon will be depleted. This depletion leads to economic crashes because we rely on that source so much. This book takes place in 2041, in the far future. Our depictions on how the future will be include running out of resources which may very well be what the author was trying to portray.
Passage #2
"His tone had softened, but his eyes flashed with anger. "We were getting by until a couple of months ago, but a few weeks in the hospital wiped out our entire savings and the pension fund dried up last year. I had to sell everything I could just to buy food." He'd sold his possessions to buy food and he had the nerve to be and at Mom for becoming a farmer? I didn't understand him at all. I took a hard look at the room and saw that it really was much shabbier than I would've expected from my mom's descriptions." (Anthony 71)People or industries go out of their way to make this food that is processed and that is unhealthy for people. They do so because of time, time is money and money is business for them. It's almost as if they do not care about the people eating it as long as they have money in their pockets. Instead of doing this, by us growing our own food by farming and planting fruits and vegetables, we would not only be able to have food right there in our reach but also food that is not contaminated with various chemicals that are in the processed foods. Also it would cost less for us. Money, I think, is the problem when wanting to buy healthy food. All of the organic and healthy food always costs more so people that cannot afford it often do not have the opportunity to eat that. The unhealthy, processed food is the cheapest so people are more likely to buy that. I think that becoming a farmer is just generally a smart idea, but people have seriously become lazy. No one wants to do their own work. We hire people to do such mundane tasks just so that we will not have to do them. Humans really need to stop doing this. We need to realize what we have to do and do them. Not wait around or wait for others to do our work for us. If we stopped being lazy and went back to doing our own labor and farming we'd not only have healthy and natural food, but we'd have money that may be used in different ways.
Passage #3
"I'm just wondering why if they were rich enough to buy such a nice house, and my grandpa was a doctor for so long, they don't have any money." "My guess is no liquid assets." "What do you mean?" Spill was pulling us up a pretty steep hill, but he never lost his breath at all and continued to talk normally. "People with old money are still rich," he explained. "And there have always been, and always will be, the poor." We reached the top of the hill, and the road flattened out into open countryside. "For a while," he continued, "there were people like your grandparents, who earned food salaries and reinvested their savings in technology and real estate. They made money fast, but it was mostly on paper. They were rich in assets but usually had a ton of debt. When the Collapse came, they lost everything." "Oh." " The truly rich knew that the oil was almost gone and that the governments of the bigger countries would have to make a move of some sort," he continued." (Anthony 116)This REALLY reminds me of The Great Depression. How everyone relied on the stock markets and invested so much into them. As well as putting their money in banks instead of keeping it at home "underneath their mattresses" like the old times. So when the stock market crashed and the banks and many businesses around were shut down and closed all of those people lost everything they had. It always seems that those with the most money always receive the most benefits. They may easily buy their way. If they need to move from one place to another they can because they can afford it while the poor suffer in that area. It doesn't seem fair what so ever. I think the author tries to tell us that once we become dependent on something that it means trouble. It is never good to become too dependent on something because once it is taken away then it's almost like you are lost after that. He could be possibly warning us that we need to no depend so much on what we depend on now. Some things could be like resources, processed foods, and our highly advanced technology. Especially when we talk about technology because people now a days can't even leave their houses without some sort of technology whether it be their phones, tablets, or iPods. What if something were to happen with our satellites and we had no more connection or anything like that. We would be in so much trouble. We would turn into incapable beings because we rely to much on our technology.
Passage #4
"That's when I saw Dad's email about the border. Ian McClure CANADA BORDER CLOSING!!! September 21 Molly, Return home ASAP. Epidemic breakout of polio around the Great Lakes has shut down parts of Canadian-U.S. border. Already setting up quarantine tents in Ontario w/ long delays-three weeks or more. Other provinces sure to follow to keep it from spreading. Don't get stuck. Hurry, Dad. Panic washed over me. We had to get home! Dad had sent the email five days ago and I hoped we weren't already too late. I took ten seconds to send a message saying I had the money and we were on our way and then I signed off." (Anthony 180)Things like this scare me. Like diseases and viruses spreading from country to country. Especially now a days, since air travel is a constant thing, and there are so many other means of transportation. Like subways, buses, and places where people are packed together tightly and there are not the cleanest conditions. Like, in the present, Japan is one of the first places that comes to mind because its high population and not the cleanest living conditions makes it a perfect place for germs to spread fairly quickly. Such things can be caused my environmental issues too such as natural disasters. Like if a hurricane hit and floods a certain area and all of the nasty sewage stuff comes up and infects the water. Things like that happen a lot. And these things can be very dangerous to not only that particular area but it can spread to surrounding areas and pollute their stuff. This also reminded me of like the end of the world. Like people attempting to flee to other areas just trying to get to somewhere safe. I think this part of the book the author did a good job at sort of adding suspense to it. Because the letter kind of creates a "cross the finish line before time runs out" kind of feel. Which allows the reader to feel like they are in a hurry as well. I think that things like this will happen in the future more often if we do not make strides towards bettering the planet.
Final Analysis of Social Critique
Article-Even After Rains, Facing Long-Term Water Needs
It amazes me the fact that we can be running out of such a vital resource like water. But it is also really hard to do anything about a drought because it is something that just happens naturally. Sometimes we cannot control what the Earth just does because that is how that specific area is. The midwest being dry and the northeast being cold and having snow. They just naturally are that way. This become especially dangerous when it starts to effect the economy. If there is little supply of water then the people who depend on water for their jobs like pool cleaners and car wash operators and farmers then they may easily be out of a job. If jobs are lost then the economy faces a major hit which could possibly cause it to crash. It is scary how connected everything is to each other. We need to be careful with resources, especially water. It is so essential to life.
Galbraith, Kate. "THE TEXAS TRIBUNE; Even After Rains, Facing Long-Term Water Needs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.